Riley Adams's Blog, page 94
January 28, 2017
Twitterific Writing Links
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.
Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 39,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.
Business / Miscellaneous
Freelance writers @jessicahische
Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous
Colombia’s Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias Opens This Week @cfuenteslaroche
Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting
Top 10 Mistakes Derailing Your Goals [Podcast] @MichaelHyatt
Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration
9 Simple Activities To Inspire Your Writing: by Emma Johnson
Read More Fiction (A New Year’s Resolution for Writers) @Roz_Morris
3 Ways a Writer Inadvertently Limited Her Writing @rsmollisonread
3 Writing Prompts to Tap Into Your Creative Well @write_practice
Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation
When you’re your own boss, you’re in charge of your own morale @StephMorrill
Creativity and Inspiration / Perfectionism
A Tip to Sneak Past Perfection @WritetoDone
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing
Using Habits,Triggers & Rewards To Build a Daily Writing Practice @SukhiJutla
Writing when it’s hectic @WendyENThomas
6 Words Every Writer Should Avoid @RJThesman
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / When to write
8 Writerly Routines @j_r_fahy_tweets
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block
Finding Your Story, or How to Get out of the Dark Wood When You’re Lost @KAMcCleary
3 Quick Tips to Start Writing Again @LisaTener
How to Avoid the Post-Writing-Challenge Slump @NinaAmir
Exploit Your Vulnerabilities to Finally Complete Your Book @jan_ohara
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly
3 Ways to Improve Your Writer’s Focus and Get More Done @colleen_m_story
5 Strategies to Help Writers Get the Writing Done @JennyBravoBooks
Creativity and Inspiration / Success
“The Tragedy I See At Starbucks Every Day” @storyfix
How to improve your the quality of your work @pubcoach
Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life
Writing as Aggression @lithub by Emily Temple
Why Books Have Margins (And So Should You) @JanalynVoigt
Reading and Writing in the Age of Social Media @MTW_2017
Your Never Ending Writing Improvement Program @jamesscottbell
12 New Year’s Resolutions for Introverts @livequiet
9 Questions Writers Love to be Asked @AnnieNeugebauer
Why Your Chair Makes a Difference @SeanPlatt
Genres / Miscellaneous
Include Romance In Your Book or Screenplay @patverducci
Genres / Historical
Writing Historical Fiction @GoTeenWriters
Genres / Memoir
Writing Memoir? Think Outside the Book @annerallen
Genres / Middle-Grade
The Difference Between Young Adult and Middle Grade @RuthanneReid
Genres / Mystery
Crime Writing @LeeLofland
Genres / Picture Books
The Dos and Don’ts of Writing for Children @RMFWriters
Genres / Poetry
How Do We Pay the Poets? @amandanadelberg
How to Keep Poetry Alive @tspoetry
4 Poetry Chapbook Strategies @WritersDigest
Genres / Romance
Romance Writing @jcharroway
Romance Sub-genres @RMFWriters
Promo / Miscellaneous
Top 10 Ways Marketing Your Books Is Like Exploring A Jungle @10MinNovelists
Author Promo Tips with @Mark_Gottlieb from @Trident_Media @TheIWSG
Book Marketing @cksyme
Promo / Blogging
3 Tips to Title Your Blog Post and Draw Readers In @Margo_L_Dill
Improving Your Writing with an SEO Plugin @MarshaIngrao
4 Ways to Choose a Blog Topic Your Readers Will Love @woodwardkaren
Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting
Mind Map Your Way to the Perfect Book Title @Writerology
Promo / Book Reviews
How the NY Times Book Review Works @lithub
The Zen of Accepting Bad Reviews @Artzicarol
How Book Reviewing Can Influence Writing @WomenWriters
Promo / Newsletters
Email Marketing 101 for Authors @timgrahl
Promo / Podcasts
The Ultimate Guide to Podcasting for Authors and Creatives @audracasino
Publishing / Miscellaneous
6 lessons from debuting a novel @Ava_Jae
6 skills for authors to hone @ShanDitty
Publishing / News / International Publishing
Cambridge University Press @Porter_Anderson
Industry Changes @Porter_Anderson
A Spanish-Language Social Network for Book Fans @pubperspectives
Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing
Self-Publishing vs Traditional Publishing @ReedsyHQ
Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Rejections
Author Michael Alvear with 4 ways to be resilient in the face of rejection:
Publishing / Process / Translation
On Translating Kafka’s Biography @DennisAbrams2
Writing Craft / Miscellaneous
4 reasons to use a time warp in your story @Chris_Kokoski
The Best Place In Your Novel To Put Your Personal Beliefs @Chris_Kokoski
Are Paper Notebooks Better for Creative Writing and Brainstorming? @WritingForward
3 Ways to Make Your Writing Come Alive @Janice_Hardy
How to Create Cause and Effect in Stories @plotwhisperer
How to Use Internal Dialogue Effectively in Your Fiction @ESimsAuthor
Writing Craft / Beginnings
Real Life Diagnostics @Janice_Hardy
On meeting characters and making impressions @DamonSuede
How To Hook Your Readers From The Start @DionneMcCulloch
Writing Craft / Characters / Development
Five Characters Who Endure Too Much Degradation @mythcreants
What Is Your Character’s Cornerstone? @knitteditor
Writing Craft / Diversity
Rosarium’s Faces of Diverse Publishing @RosariumBill
What Counts As Transgender Literature? @GabbyBellot @lithub
Writing Craft / Drafts
The Secret to Writing a Usable Draft @JeffGoins
What a Novel Looks Like Before It’s a Novel @lithub
Writing Craft / Endings
How to Write Effective Endings @pronoun
Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film
What ‘Westworld’ Can Teach Us About Writers @LitReactor
8 Books About First Contacts and Alien Encounters @TobiasCarroll
Story Structure Case Study of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” @kylieday0
Checklist Road Test @CockeyedCaravan
How To Write Like Leonardo da Vinci @rxena77
How We Write About Work, Then and Now @lithub
5 Times We Earthlings Messed Up a Fantasy World @tordotcom
Writing Craft / POV
Writing Dual Narratives @ClaireFuller2
Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting
3 Reasons to Write Your Story as Roman à Clef @McgannKellie
Plot Your Novel with Drama, Depth and Heart [Podcast] @lornafaith @Roz_Morris
Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar
25 Words That Are Their Own Opposites @WordSnooper
Writing Craft / Revision
10 Sentence-Level Mistakes to Watch Out for When Editing Your Fiction @aliventures
Editing Your Zero Draft @woodwardkaren
Storyboarding – Not Just for Plotting Anymore @joanswan
5 Things to Consider During the Revision Process @LoucindaMcGary
100 Editing and Proofreading Tips for Writers: from Expert Editor
Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques
When to Ignore Negative Feedback @tonya_writes
Writing Craft / Settings and Description
How to Describe Setting (Without Putting Your Reader to Sleep) @JerryBJenkins
Writing Craft / Tension
Creating Conflict in Novels @kayelleallen
A Surefire Way to Add Conflict to Your Story @Janice_Hardy
Writing Craft / Tropes
Tropes in Literature: Conveniently an Orphan: by Melinda Brasher
Writing Tools / Miscellaneous
How To Be A Smart Author in 2017 @sacha_black
Writing Tools / Apps
Scrivener and The Book Architecture Method @Book_Arch
Writing Tools / Resources
Free writing manual from @BubbleCow @GarySmailes
From My Blog
Twitterific Writing Links – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig A weekly roundup of the best writing links …
Process @elizabethscraig Some of my more po…
The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
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January 26, 2017
Process: Finishing One Book While Starting Another
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Some of my more popular posts have to do with something pretty ordinary and (unfortunately) boring … process.
Everyone’s process for writing and publishing books is different. Maybe that’s why we’re curious about what works for other writers. I know I like reading those types of posts, too. I never know when there’s something that might be helpful to try or something that I could work into my own writing process.
Keeping all of that in mind, I thought I’d share my own process for finishing a book and starting another book. It’s fresh in my mind because that’s been my last couple of weeks (some of this I touched on in last Friday’s post).
The process for the book that’s releasing
While the book is in edits, I start loading the book and the book’s metadata up on distributor and retail sites (which can be, if you use a lot of distributors, something of a tedious process).
I draft a newsletter to announce the upcoming release.
I make sure the book is linked to the rest of the series on Amazon and other retail sites.
I update my website, LinkedIn, and Goodreads.
The process for the next book in that series
Whatever book I’ve just finished, I start immediately outlining the next book in that same series. I’ve found this is a big time-saver for me because my head is still in the series. It takes a lot less time to create situations for the characters to respond to, etc.
The outline is nothing fancy. This is my template for it:
Title
Back Cover Copy
Victim #1
Weapon Used
Suspects
Second Murder Method
Victim #2
Killer(s)
Red Herrings (false leads)
Subplots/series memes to work in
After 1st murder: Interviews
Suspect 1 interviewed…suspect points to ____, suspect’s alibi: _____, suspect’s lie____, suspect’s truth____
(rest of interviews of 4-5 suspects, same set-up)
After 2nd murder: interviews:
(Same set-up as before, with added opportunity to defend/explain any false alibis from 1st murder)
Moment of danger:
Clues that pointed to killer:
As you can imagine, filling out something like this is less daunting than a blow-by-blow outline. And yet this was acceptable to Penguin back in the day, too, so there was enough meat there, too to satisfy their requirements (their review of my outlines was in my contracts).
I write the back cover copy for the book I’m outlining. As you can imagine, it’s fairly vague, but with cozy mysteries, this is not a problem.
I commission a cover during this time from my cover designer. Not only have I learned that it’s best to get covers early, it helps me to visualize the project and stay on track better.
I register the ISBNs for print, Kindle, and epub versions on Bowker for the project (which will, technically, be completed after I write a book in the other series I work on).
I upload the new cover and cover copy to my website on the ‘Coming Soon‘ page.
Once I’m finished with the outline, I move right on to write the next book (which, in my case, is always with the other series I’m writing–the one I’d have already outlined after finishing a story in that series). This may sound more confusing than it actually is.
What’s your process like with finishing a project and starting another? Mine is pretty rushed with not much room for celebration (the downside), although it’s easy enough to be automatic by now. Do you have more of a time buffer? What works best for you?
Finishing one project while starting another: the process:
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Photo credit: Jamie Zeschke via Visual Hunt / CC BY
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January 22, 2017
Publishing’s Dirty Little Secret: The Rejections Never Stop
January 21, 2017
Twitterific Writing Links
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.
Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 39,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.
I did have a new book release Tuesday. :) Find out more about Fall to Pieces here.
Business / Miscellaneous
Make Wise Investments In Your Author Business @cksyme
Why More Writers Should Talk About Money @manjulamartin
Creativity and Inspiration / Miscellaneous
Creative Lessons Learned From Podcasting Since 2009 @thecreativepenn
Writing Skills @KarenCV
Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting
Choosing a One-Word Theme for Your 2017 @RoniLoren
Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration
How to Avoid Sabotaging Your Creative Process @amcarley
How To Always Have Something Awesome To Write About @ThePaigeDuke
Why Focusing on the Present Can Make You More Creative @livequiet
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing
Tracking your activities for increased productivity @Write_Track
5 ways to make time to write when you’ve got a busy family @jasonbougger
3 Ways To Change Your Thinking About Writing Time and Productivity @rsmollisonread
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block
5 Reasons to Thank Your Resistance to Writing @RosanneBane
5 Steps for Getting Out of a Creative Rut @EJWenstrom
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly
A Method to Manage Writing Projects @jkwak
5 Weird Ways to Get Yourself Writing @DIYMFA
6 Ways to Increase Your Productivity as a Writer Without Burning Out @jenlouden
Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life
5 Tips For When You Have Too Much to Do @zen_habits
6 Packing Tips for Writers Who Want to Hit the Road @Kristen_E_Pope
5 Ways to Combat Author Anxiety @WritersDigest
7 Thoughts For Writers Struggling With Depression @RebekahGyger
Why to Keep Your Day Job After Becoming a Best-selling Author from @johngreen @GoinsWriter
Into the Writing Vortex with Jo March & Louisa May Alcott, 1869 @2nerdyhistgirls
Writing Friends and Where to Find Them @besscozby
How Do You Want Your Novel to Change the World? @jmunroemartin
How To Get Your Partner To Support Your Writing @standoutbooks
Genres / Miscellaneous
5 Reasons Genre Matters @MarcyKennedy
Genres / Fantasy
On Thud and Blunder in Heroic Fantasy: by Poul Anderson
5 Horrifying Monsters That Aren’t Vampires, Zombies or Werewolves @repokempt
Genres / Historical
Balance Fact and Fiction When Writing Historical Novels: by Jack Woodville London
Genres / Horror
5 Books About Human Horror @jarockauthor
Genres / Mystery
Insomniacs in crime fiction @mkinberg
How Safe Is Your Character? @JacquiAnnWard
Genres / Picture Books
Tech Tools to Help Produce & Sell Children’s Books @carlaking
Genres / Poetry
A Self-Published Poet’s Path to Her First Book Deal @JaneFriedman with Amanda Lovelace
Genres / Young Adult
4 Tips on Creating Pitch Perfect YA Characters @AmyFosterHere
5 Key Ingredients All YA Novels Must Have @katiemccoach
Promo / Miscellaneous
What not to wear on TV @pubcoach
Promo / Ads
How To Get Your Sales Moving With Facebook Ads @davidpenny_
Promo / Blogging
8 Ideas for Adding Additional Content to Your Blog @NonfictionAssoc
5 Free Tools to Improve Your Blog @KarenBanes
How to Use Your Blog as an Author Platform @SukhiJutla
Promo / Newsletters
Why You Need a Newsletter @AP_Fuchs
Promo / Websites
Make Your Website Interactive to Gain New Readers @EbooksAndKids
Publishing / Miscellaneous
The Hard Truth About Publishing—What Writers & Readers Need to Know @KristenLambTX
3 Things One Debut Writer Wishes She’d Known @LizbethMeredith
Publishing / News / Data
Record Number of Libraries Surpass 1,000,000 eBook and Audiobook Checkouts in 2016 @OverDriveLibs
Publishing / News / International Publishing
What Canada’s Shelfie Data Suggests About Ebook Subscriptions @HudPeter
Firebrand Buys Canada’s Enthrill, HarperCollins Withdraws Crowley Book @Porter_Anderson
Publishing Partnerships @Porter_Anderson
An English Translation of a Japanese TV Series Based on a Swedish Book @Porter_Anderson
Growing Russian Market Looks to Educational and Children’s Books in 2017 by Eugene Gerden @pubperspectives
DBW 2017 Opening Themes @Porter_Anderson
Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing
9 Steps to Self-Publish Your Print Book Using CreateSpace @lornafaith
Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing
An agent on how far she reads into a manuscript @Janet_Reid
Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying
How to Write a Query Letter to an Agent @KellyDSmith
Publishing / Process / Book Design
Master Your Genre’s Book Cover @sacha_black
Publishing / Process / Distribution
Q&A with Pronoun @pronoun
Publishing / Process / Legalities
Rights Management @Porter_Anderson
Writing Craft / Miscellaneous
4 Essential Mind Tricks for Writing to Persuade @jeffelk
How to Write a Great Story @JaneFriedman
Storytelling @woodwardkaren
Screenwriting Techniques To Transform Your Novel @djwilliams316
How to Make “Write What You Know” Work for You @krisriggle
10 Rules of Writing @patverducci
Advanced Craft Tips @PBRWriter
Weak Verbs are the Path to the Dark Side @p2p_editor
Using Mentor Texts With Students @MelanieMeehan1
How To Tailor A Story To Readers @woodwardkaren
Writing Craft / Beginnings
4 ways not to start a novel @jasonbougger
Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists
3 Essential Factors to Make Your Villain 3D @RuthanneReid
Writing Killer Descriptions – First Impressions @mythicscribes
10 Ways To Create Dangerously Nuanced Antagonists @Writers_Write
Writing Craft / Characters / Arc
How Character Attributes and Flaws Work Within Character Arc @AngelaAckerman
Writing Craft / Characters / Development
Create a Character Readers Can’t Help But Care About @woodwardkaren
The Why & How of Character Motivation @mythcreants
8 Key Female Archetypes to Consider for Your Novel @CSLakin
Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists
6 Subversive Heroes for Stand Out Stories @mythcreants
Writing Craft / Dialogue
Overusing Names in Dialogue @MarcyKennedy
Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film
6 Best Cocktails From Classic Literature @ElectricLit
10 Neo-Noir Films to Influence Your Fiction @wickerkat
Writing Craft / POV
Writing Through a Character’s Eyes @NovelEditor
Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar
5 Necessary Comma Uses @lisajlickel
Writing Craft / Revision
How to Streamline Your Editing Experience @MissConstance21
14 Words That Are Hurting Your Writing @Janice_Hardy
19 Self-editing Tips @WordDreams
Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques
5 Steps To Hiring A Freelance Editor @espressoeditor
3 Ways Your Beta Readers Are Right (and Oh-So-Wrong!) @KelsieEngen
Writing Craft / Scenes
How to Write a Perfect Scene @CSLakin
Writing Craft / Settings and Description
How Novelists Can Infuse Their Scenes with Color @CSLakin
Four Dimensional Settings: by Shawn Coyne
Writing Craft / Voice
How Finding Your Voice Can Inspire New Novels @SWilliamsAuthor
Writing Tools / Miscellaneous
Describing Words Finds Adjectives For the Noun You’re Writing About @LordRavenscraft
Writing Tools / Apps
How to Learn Scrivener Fast @lornafaith
20 Apps for Writers Who Want to Get Serious @ChristelleWrite
From My Blog:
Expanding Book Distribution – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig When I wrote a post in October on growing…
Creative Challenges for Better Productivity – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Sometimes I think that we…
Twitterific Writing Links – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig A weekly roundup of the best writing links …
Another Go at Pre-Orders – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig This is my third post on pre-orders. As you …
The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
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January 19, 2017
Another Go at Pre-Orders
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
This is my third post on pre-orders. As you might remember, I wasn’t much of a fan of them when I tried them (over much of 2016).
This time I decided not to run a long-term pre-order.
I didn’t like the pressure of feeling like I was under the gun to deliver. It’s been a while since I wrote for a traditional publisher and maybe I’ve gotten used to my deadlines getting softer.
This time I waited for my book to be finished and then put it up for a very short pre-order while the book was being edited (knowing I had plenty of time to finish my edits before uploading the final version).
I put the book up on both Amazon and Draft2Digital’s retailers (some of which are set-up for pre-orders, some aren’t) on January 2 for a January 17 release. I picked a Tuesday, since a lot of traditionally-published cozies are launched on Tuesdays and many savvy readers have an eye open for releases.
It took a while before I started seeing any sales happening. At first, I had a hard time even finding my book on Amazon. By the 10th, the book was showing at around 50,000 in the best sellers rank, so it was finally being discovered. I’m not sure if Amazon sent any emails to my readers to notify them of the pre-order, but the sales did seem to come at once.
Sales at Draft2Digital retailers, judging from my ranking on the different sites, were also occurring. The D2D dashboard doesn’t reflect pre-order sales but reports them after the release.
Draft2Digital does make the process very easy. You can set pre-orders there without the need to upload a draft (as opposed to Amazon, which doesn’t allow ‘asset-less’ pre-orders). As D2D states: “You can set up pre-orders to nearly all Draft2Digtial store partners as far out as ninety days to a year in advance of your chosen release date. You aren’t even required to have a final manuscript or cover, as long as you upload those things no less than ten days before release. We recommend pre-orders as a way to capture readers’ interest prior to the book’s launch and build up a powerful boost to your sales rank on release day.”
What I did like about the pre-order is the ability to upload everything and then work on getting all the details ironed out….the better-formatted book description, getting the ISBNs worked out, creating a newsletter with active buy-links, deciding on pricing, etc.
Another nice thing was having live links when I finally did announce the release in my newsletter. In the past, I’ve sent newsletters without the print link, since it takes a while longer for printed books to show up live at retailers.
I also like that when the book finally did release, the Amazon page was quickly populated in the ‘customers who bought this also bought’ section, which introduced my book to more readers.
Amazon has a few requirements regarding pre-orders (some of these requirements are new):
There is a minimum amount of time you can schedule a pre-order. So if you were thinking of having a week-long pre-order, that won’t be permitted by Amazon: “Pre-orders must be scheduled 10 or more days (from midnight GMT) before the book is released.”
Pre-orders are available in all Amazon marketplaces (except for India). The books release at midnight in the local time zone.
The deadline for your final version of the manuscript is 3 days before the release. Or, more specifically: “The final version of your manuscript that you want to use for your pre-order eBook must be uploaded and republished at least 3 days before the release date you set, with the last day for upload starting at midnight, GMT. For example, if you were releasing an eBook on September 20, you would need to upload and republish it by 11:59 PM GMT on September 16. To help prevent confusion from time zone to time zone, we’ve added a timer you can follow to see when exactly your book is due. We recommend you use the timer to see the actual deadline.”
For those of us worried that some unforeseen disaster will make our release date impossible, Amazon does now offer an option to reschedule the release. This option is through our KDP bookshelf (click the ellipses under Book Actions). Under ‘Pre-order’, click ‘edit release date.’ Save and submit. Amazon allows this action one time for as much as 30 days past the original launch date.
However, if you cancel the release altogether: “If you choose to cancel the pre-order, you may unpublish your eBook from the Bookshelf. When you unpublish an eBook in pre-order, you will be unable to list any eBook for pre-order for one year.”
This particular go at pre-orders was successful enough (and Amazon’s new flexibility was encouraging enough) for me to plan other short pre-order periods for future releases.
Have you tried out pre-orders? How did it go?
Giving Pre-Orders Another Try:
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Photo via tookapic via Visual Hunt
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January 15, 2017
Common Ground: Screenwriting Techniques To Transform Your Novel
by D.J. Williams, @djwilliams316
As an Executive Producer and Director in the TV industry, I understand the difficulty and challenge of transforming a novel into a visual experience on film. As a novelist, I’ve enjoyed the freedom of writing and storytelling without worrying about the limitations of turning those novels into a screenplay. Many of my readers have said, “Your books would make great movies.” I’m humbled each time I hear those words, but I’m also realistic about surviving in an ocean with sharks. Writing a novel and writing a screenplay are two different animals that don’t always play well together in the same body of water. So, if your dream is to write a novel in hopes you’ll get it optioned for film so a studio can spend millions of dollars producing your story, you might find yourself throwing a penny in a pond hoping to retrieve a pot of gold. Let’s just say, the odds are not in your favor. But there are techniques we can use as novelists to transform our stories that share common ground with screenwriters.
In my novels, The Disillusioned and Waking Lazarus, the chapters are written as scenes in a film as a way to keep readers engaged. Since my writing tends to be more visual, much like a screenwriter, I use this technique to keep the story moving forward at a quicker pace. I don’t want to bog readers down with pages of backstory, inner thoughts, or showcasing my writing prowess that leaves them trudging through a swamp. I’m not a literary genius like Tolstoy. I write commercial fiction, and what that means is I must use some of the same techniques as a screenwriter because we live in a visual age. Isn’t that how we want readers to respond? We want them to envision the world we’ve created, to connect with the characters, and to imagine where the story will lead. Our words on a page create a visual experience for our readers.
One huge advantages for novelists is we can take our time delving deeper into our characters’ thoughts and emotions. We can leave breadcrumbs of hidden clues, backstory, and reveal aspects of our characters’ storylines that maybe only the reader will know, most of which would never be played out on screen. And, you do this within a 380+ page book instead of a 120 page screenplay. But there is a downside, one we can avoid when using other screenwriting techniques.
Have you ever noticed how at around the thirty minute mark in a film there is a twist to the story? It’s that moment that leads us into the second act. A character makes a choice, faces a tragedy, or loses what they value most. In that scene the story goes deeper and keeps viewers on the edge of their seat. If we were to call this the thirty-minute rule for screenwriters, then we could define that technique as the crossroads chapter for novelists. While I won’t give away which chapter that might be in my novels, I will say that this chapter marker is a roadmap that leads me to the second act of my story. Why do this? For my writing style, it helps me know that the story is moving forward. I’m not simply writing chapters that bring nothing more to the story. The chapters leading up to the chapter that will remain unnamed, are centered on introducing readers into this world, revealing unique characters, and setting readers up for the plot twist.
In this scenario, the big difference between novels and screenplays is that in a screenplay you should only write what you see or hear on screen. Internal thoughts won’t work. Narration is tricky because it can slow the story down. Novelists can dive deeper into inner thoughts, longer dialogue, and more descriptive settings, but in either scenario, character and setting are still king. By the time you reach the thirty minutes, or the crossroads chapter, your characters and story should be in full affect. If the characters are flat, or the story isn’t progressing quick enough, then you know it’s time to go back and rework your first act.
One note to remember: as novelists we aren’t restricted by production budgets, so if we need to enhance our characters’ setting, or build a bigger more interesting world, then we can simply write that on the page rather than begging a studio to give us a bigger budget. That’s one of the challenges screenwriters have that novelists don’t. Screenwriters have to create a world and characters that fit within the overall production budget of a studio.
In this day and age another technique novelists can learn from screenwriters is to keep our stories concise. Reminders to move the story forward should be planted on our walls, computer screens, notebooks, and tattooed on our arms if necessary. If the story isn’t progressing then we’ll lose our readers. Too much backstory and we’ve lost them. Give too much information away in the beginning and our characters become less interesting. Writing chapters filled with inner thoughts, dream sequences, flashbacks, or sharing pieces of the story that won’t matter in the end forces readers to close the book, unless they are written in a concise way that adds momentum to our story. It’s why screenwriters are constantly cutting, scrutinizing every word of a script, because they only have so many pages to fit the story. Every scene. Every piece of dialogue. Ever word is weighed to make the screenplay as tight as possible. In the end, cutting in a screenplay makes for a better story. For novelists, we can learn a great deal from this technique. While some view editing as the process that is done to finalize the last draft of a novel so we can publish, the truth is that editing is an exercise where we’re constantly fine-tuning each chapter. Much like a screenplay, ruthless cutting/editing makes the novel shine.
While this is by no means all of the screenwriting techniques we can apply as novelists, they are common ground exercises that can enable us to transform our writing to become more effective storytellers.
D.J. Williams: Currently based out of Los Angeles, Williams continues to add to his producing and directing credits of more than 350 episodes of broadcast TV syndicated worldwide by developing new projects for television, film and print.
Jake Harris’ life hasn’t turned out the way he planned. Battling his addictions, and the shattered pieces of his family, he is hired to ghostwrite a memoir. From the 1920’s story of a controversial evangelist, to the present day mystery of a former District Attorney, everything changes when his search for the truth leads to an atrocity hidden from history. With a past he can’t remember, he begins to discover that he is not the person he believed himself to be. Rather, he is a threat to a secret society that has remained in the shadows for nearly a century. Jake is drawn deep inside a world he never knew existed that brings him closer to his own extraordinary destiny.
This latest novel is accompanied by a full soundtrack. Williams has worked alongside composer, Jené Nicole Johnson, to create an enhanced reading experience that has not been done before in book publishing. The soundtrack has been customized to fit readers of all kinds, whether they read fast or slow. It is a groundbreaking addition to the series that is already receiving rave reviews.
Author @djwilliams316 with screenwriting techniques to transform your novel:
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January 14, 2017
Twitterific Writing Links
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.
Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 39,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.
Business / Miscellaneous
Publishing predictions 2017 by Agent Laurie McLean @annerallen
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing
9 Ideas To Make Room In Your Life For Writing @GoTeenWriters
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block
Getting Past the Dreaded Block @jemifraser
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly
What is the Ideal Book Release Pace for Authors? @EmilyWenstrom
Using Task Batching to be a More Productive Writer @allindiewriters
Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life
101 Coping Skills for Writers With or Without Mental Illness @heisawolf
When Writing Can’t Be Your Life @GoTeenWriters
How Do I Make Writing a Career? @mariraz @ElectricLit
The best lessons 1 writer has learned @KillerNashville
Escapism Is for Readers; Writers Stay @Porter_Anderson
Genres / Horror
What Happened With George Romero’s Zombies? @JonathanBarkan
Genres / Humor
7 Reasons Writers of Serious Novels Should Use Humor in Their Fiction @WritersDigest
Genres / Memoir
The Micro-Memoir @fiedawn
Genres / Middle-Grade
7 Tips for Writing Middle Grade Voice @ceciliaedits
Writing the Middle Grade Novel @WritersCoach
Genres / Mystery
Crime Writing @LeeLofland
Crime Writers @SueColetta1
Self-deception as an element in crime fiction @mkinberg
Opposites DO Attract @KillerNashville
Crime fiction @mkinberg
Genres / Picture Books
Writing Merchandise Tie-In Children’s Books @CynLeitichSmith
Genres / Romance
The Structure of a Romance @woodwardkaren
Genres / Screenwriting
3 Big Query Letter Mistakes Screenwriters Make @scriptmag
Promo / Miscellaneous
Kidlit @MeetToby
Books2Read’s Universal Book Links @thDigitalReader
Street Teams @sacha_black
Promo / Blogging
3 tips for better author blogs @MarshaIngrao
7 Steps to a Successful Brand for Your Personal Blog @MarshaIngrao
Promo / Newsletters
Author Newsletters – A Spy’s Report @mollygreene
Promo / Social Media Tips
6 Visual Tools to Improve Your Social Media Content @CalebCousens
7 Social Media Tips for Indie Authors @CaballoFrances
29 Quick and Easy Social Media Updates to Share @EdieMelson
5 Ways to use Facebook Groups to Build Book Buzz @DianaUrban
Using Snapchat for Book Marketing and Author Branding @MelissaFlicks
Promo / Speaking
Why you should leave ‘holes’ in your speeches @pubcoach
Promo / Video
Tips for enhancing your video marketing @SpunkOnAStick
Publishing / Miscellaneous
2016 @JaneFriedman
Audio Books – Options, Pros, Cons, Dos, and Don’ts @TheIWSG
Connecting with Consumers, Open Road Media Grows Revenue @JaneORIM
What to expect when publishing on Amazon Kindle Store: by AC de Fombelle
Releasing a series all at once or one at a time — which is better? @HollowLandsBook
Publishing / News / International Publishing
Germany’s De Gruyter Takes Over ‘Info DaF’, Digitizing 30,00 Back Issue Pages @Porter_Anderson
International Notes @pubperspectives @Porter_Anderson
Market Overview @pubperspectives By Claudia Kaiser
Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing
How to Find Your Agent Match @SusanSpann
Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying
What to Write in the “Bio” Section of Your Query Letter @ChuckSambuchino
Publishing / Process / Book Design
DIY Book Cover Blunders: by Bruce Fottler
Formatting Tips for Your Manuscript @NanReinhardt
How to design book covers for any genre @99designs
Publishing / Process / Distribution
Expand book distribution with PublishDrive and StreetLib:
Publishing / Process / Services to Avoid
All Romance eBooks’ Sudden Closing @victoriastrauss
Writing Craft / Miscellaneous
Is Your Book a Bargain? @p2p_editor
Remove filters in your fiction @TheWriterMag
Want to Write Great Fiction? Stop Using the “Logical” Side of Your Brain. @losapala
Tips for honing your craft in 2017 @diannabooks
Incorporating a ‘blind spot’ in our fiction @KristenLambTX
Pointers for Punching Up Your Prose @LucienneDiver
Ghostwriting @KarenCV
4 Signs It’s Time To Quit A Writing Project @Magzdozza
Writing Craft / Beginnings
Elements of a Stellar Opening Scene @JohnJKelley
Writing Craft / Characters / Development
How to Deepen Your Chapter Book Characters @AliceKuipers
Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists
7 Protagonists With Terrible Motivations @mythcreants
Writing Craft / Endings
How to Repair the End of Your Novel @JerryBJenkins
How to End a Book @nownovel
Writing Craft / Literary Devices
Fate Versus Free Will @SaraL_Writer
Writing Craft / POV
Do YOU Need To Write In The Second Person? @standoutbooks
8 Tips in Writing Deep Point of View @ZoeMMcCarthy
Picking The Perfect POV and Tense For Your Book @misfitalexa
Is The Wrong Character Telling Your Story? @ShanDitty
Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar
15 Military Terms Used in Civilian Contexts @writing_tips
Vocative Commas and the Vocative Case @MarcyKennedy
Writing Craft / Revision
Revision Checklist @MartinaABoone
Review Your Plot @sreynoldswriter
Rushing Through Revision @Kid_Lit
7 Misconceptions About Revision @WritersDigest
Writing Craft / Scenes
A New Way to Think About Scene Structure @KMWeiland
Writing Craft / Tension
Making It Worse for a Character @mythicscribes
Writing Craft / Tropes
Why Rowling Rocked the Briefcase Mix-up @SeptCFawkes
Writing Craft / Voice
5 Ways to Discover & Develop Our Voice @JamiGold
Writing Craft / World-Building
WorldBuilding @Wcarter01
The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
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January 12, 2017
Creative Challenges for Better Productivity
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Sometimes I think that we need something to spur us on and get us going.
We need something different to help us either grow or keep ourselves engaged. Maybe we’ve been working on one book for a long period of time. Maybe we’ve been working on a particular series so long that we feel we’re getting stale. Maybe it’s that we’ve been writing a single genre.
Sometimes we’re just weighed down by our story.
For me, the best thing I can do is to shake things up a little bit.
Write at a different time of day.
Write in a different place (my favorite is the library).
Read something really good. For me, this is usually something in a genre I’m not writing. Or, maybe, I’m reading a mystery, but it’s not the same subgenre. Or I’ll read an inspiring autobiography or biography on an artist.
I subscribe to one email newsletter that sparks my creativity: Austin Kleon. He has a wide variety of artistic interests.
Challenges are another popular way for writers to get their writing done. Some of the best-known challenges are:
NaNoWriMo: I never officially enter, but I set a personal writing goal and usually meet whatever that goal is.
Camp NaNoWriMo. I think these times of year (April and July) work much better for many people (aside from perhaps parents whose kids are home from school for spring break or summer).
Prompts and Sprints
Prompts can provide a fun way to get the creative juices flowing.
The NY Times has 500 prompts for narrative and personal writing.
Creative Writing Prompts for Writers has a nice backlog of prompts.
The Write Prompts has 1900 prompts of different kinds (images, journaling prompts, poetry prompts).
Reddit also has a writing prompts section.
Writing sprints can be a helpful way of making progress on our books, especially if we are hung up by perfectionism. If we’re writing as fast as we can, our writing can’t be perfect. Sprints can help remind us that the first draft is just for getting the story down on paper. If you want to join others doing writing sprints, Twitter is a good place to do so. A post by Ramona Defelice Long recommends going as far as to keep a sprint journal.
Other ideas are to explore new genres or other subgenres.
What have I missed? Do you have ways to keep creatively challenged when writing long-term?
Creative Challenges for Better Productivity:
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January 8, 2017
Expanding Book Distribution
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
When I wrote a post in October on growing our international reading audience, I mentioned a Facebook group called The International Indie Author, headed by writer Mark Williams. (You must ask for permission to join the group.)
Mark was kind enough to make some very thoughtful comments on the post. In those, he urged writers to consider not only going beyond KDP, Apple, etc,. but also beyond distributors like Draft2Digital or Smashwords. Among other things (like using Fiberead to reach a Chinese audience), he mentioned the importance of getting our books on Google Play (which we can’t do through D2D or Smashwords) and OverDrive (which puts our books in over 33,000 digital libraries in more than 50 countries).
Mark also stated that, unlike Smashwords, getting in OverDrive through PublishDrive or StreetLib means that our books won’t be in the separate ‘self published’ section of the site.
The following week after Mark’s comments, I made sure to upload my books to both PublishDrive and StreetLib. The process was easy; if you’re used to uploading to retailers, it won’t be difficult for you. I uploaded epub files that I’d used for other platforms, filled out all the book metadata (description, author bio, etc.), and uploaded my cover. You’ll fill in how you want to be paid and your tax information.
The royalty structure is fairly common to distributors. There are no upfront fees and the distributors are paid from your sales. More on the details here: StreetLib and PublishDrive
Then I pretty much left it alone.
Checking back in a couple of months later, I found that I did indeed have sales on both StreetLib and PublishDrive, mainly for Google Play and OverDrive. I found that I had many more Canadian sales than usual, too.
PublishDrive, in particular, has a nice bit of analytics. They told me what my best price point was ($4-$5, believe it or not. That may be because they were my most recent releases).
For a minimal investment of time on my part, I expanded my distribution and made what was actually a very tidy profit.
Are you on PublishDrive or StreetLib? Do you use distributors at all, or do you upload directly to all your platforms?
Expand book distribution with PublishDrive and StreetLib:
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January 7, 2017
Twitterific Writing Links
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.
Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 39,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.
Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting
Make Affirmations Rather than Resolutions @debluskin
How to Set Achievable and Meaningful Goals @JaneFriedman
How Writers Can Prepare Now for a Productive New Year @allindiewriters
Why Missing Your Goals Can Be a Good Thing @ChadRAllen
Commit to doing things differently in 2017 @DoWhatYouLoveXx
The Real Reason You’re Afraid to Set Goals for 2017 [Podcast] @MichaelHyatt
Looking Ahead to 2017 – Step by Step @hwrightwriter
One Sure-to-Fail Strategy for Setting New Goals @MichaelHyatt
Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers
5 Reasons To Keep A Record Of What You Read @chrstnejschmdt
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block
5 most common obstacles to writing your book @KateHan
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly
Multi-tasking vs. Task-switching @PiperJDrake
Write More Books Faster with Dictation @JanalynVoigt
Don’t Worry. Don’t Wait. Write. @nickripatrazone
Creativity and Inspiration / Success
10 Things Authors Do Wrong (And How to Fix Them) @Bookgal
Celebrate your victories @GoIntoTheStory
Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life
5 Qualities Every Serious Writer Needs to Possess @tessaemilyhall
Scared to Start A New Project? @patverducci
Social Media is Eating Your Brain @jamesscottbell
Writer’s enemy list @annerallen
Mindfulness and Crafting a Creative Self-Care Practice @CreativeKatrina
Invest in white space in your life @DanBlank
Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Spaces
How to Create an Inspiring Work Space (for under $20) @WritersDigest
The Value of Writing Retreats @JaneFriedman
Genres / Miscellaneous
Writing Advice Examined @StephMorrill
Genres / Fantasy
Elements of crime fiction in popular fantasy @mkinberg
Genres / Horror
What Makes a Horror Villain Interesting? @JonathanBarkan
Genres / Science Fiction
Science Fiction @SciFi_Addicts
Exploring the Speculative Sci-Fi of Einstein’s Dreams: by Alex Carchidi
Promo / Miscellaneous
How Backend Metadata Affects Readers @DigiBookWorld by Phuong Mai
How to Use Fiverr to Create a Book Trailer @ThereseWalsh
Promo / Ads
4 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Ad Results @elisedopson
How to Use the Facebook Ad Split Testing Feature @jonloomer
Promo / Blogging
Blog Review Checklist for 2017 @DebraEckerling
8 Social WordPress Plugins to Improve Your Blog @kristelcuenta
Promo / Book Reviews
How to Handle Book Reviews @KateMColby
Promo / Book Signings and Launch parties
At libraries, plan presentations, not book signings @hopeclark
Promo / Social Media Tips
Online Maintenance @WordDreams
How to create a Facebook Book Page or FB Author Page (Video) @PlotGoesViral
3 Social Media Design Tools That Create Stunning Images @SMExaminer
Promo / Websites
Improve SEO Without Experts @CaballoFrances
Author website tips @Avrilfrances
Publishing / Miscellaneous
5 Things You Need Before You Print a Book @IngramSpark
Publishing / News / International Publishing
Kobo Becoming Tolino’s Tech Partner in Germany @mtamblyn
Publishing debate @simonschuster
HarperCollins Becomes Full Owner of HarperCollins Brasil @Porter_Anderson
Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing
5 Resolutions of a Self-Publisher @Wogahn
Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing
How to Smartly Evaluate a Small Publisher @JaneFriedman
Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Pitches
How to Find Publishers @JaneFriedman
3 Key Elements of Successful Pitching @VivWrites
Writing Craft / Miscellaneous
‘I Was a Ghostwriter for a Ghostwriter’ @michaelhafford
Why You Should Write Things Down @ErinMFeldman
3 Ways to Portray Place on the Page @WritersDigest
Slowing down time in your story @Chris_Kokoski
3 Ways to Improve Your Storytelling @Janice_Hardy
How to Organize Your Illustrations (To Find them When You Need Them) @leigh_powers
4 Traits of a Master Writer and How to Develop Them @GillespieKarin
Writing Craft / Beginnings
How to start a story @ReedsyHQ
Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists
Anti-Heroes and Villains @aliventures
Writing Craft / Characters / Development
When characters don’t cooperate @KelsieEngen
Reasons to avoid spending too much time on character profiles @jackstr952
Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists
What Makes a Hero? @josiskilpack
5 Ways to Tell if Your Main Character is Trying to Deceive You @wendypmiller
Journaling Prompt Questions to Ask Your Protagonist @tessaemilyhall
Writing Craft / Dialogue
3 Easy Tricks For Improving Dialogue In Fiction @Magzdozza
Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film
What Works & What Doesn’t @chris_shultz81
Writing Craft / Literary Devices
How to Foreshadow Like Alfred Hitchcock @KathyEdens1
Writing Craft / Pacing
Pacing Your Prose @Lindasclare
Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting
Why Your Novel Needs An ‘All Is Lost’ Moment And How To Create One @standoutbooks
How to Develop a Story @nownovel
Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research
Writing What You Know When There’s No Way to “Know” It @SelahJanel
Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar
5 Grammar Pet Peeves and How To Fix Them @KarenBerner
8 Things You Might Not Know About Vowels @arikaokrent
Writing Craft / Revision
Eliminating the boring parts from your story @Kid_Lit
Your complete self-editing checklist @pubcoach
Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques
7 Things to Remember When Giving (or Receiving) Feedback @Janice_Hardy
Writing Craft / Settings and Description
Level Up Your Setting By Thinking Outside The Box @AngelaAckerman
Developing a Supernatural Edge @RMNSediting
Writing Craft / World-Building
Worldbuilding Masterpost from Bookshopped:
Writing Tools / Apps
Top 5 Programs for Writers @katekrake
How To Use An Editing Program To Improve Your Writing @woodwardkaren
Writing Tools / Resources
Indie Authors @CaballoFrances
Uncategorized
The top writing-related tweets for 2016:
Focusing for Better Productivity – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Just a year or two ago, I had so muc…
The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
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